Wedding Season

I love weddings. I'm not totally sure why (apart from the fact that everyone is having fun, there are usually drinks involved (hence point 1), and obviously the free food), as I wasn't one of those girls who grew up dreaming of 'the big day'. I didn't have a weird 'My Wedding' scrapbook in which only the groom's head was missing and I didn't really go to that many weddings growing up.

But over the years I've realised weddings are one of my favourite occasions. Yes, they can be expensive, your best mate can (usually will) turn into a psycho bossy bridezilla, you'll probably be hungry for most of the day and then get too drunk but I reckon they're great.

I worked for longer than expected at a very posh and beautiful restaurant on Shelly Beach in Sydney when I was younger, and it was one of the top wedding venues in the city. As a result I probably attended over a hundred weddings in just over a year... (I'd like to state I was an uninvited guest to sound cool but actually I was mostly the invisible person straining under the two tonne slate with miniature canopes balanced on it while you ask "Sorry, what's in the first one again?!").

Anyway, although the weddings inevitably followed a pretty standard formula, my boss usually gave up getting me to do anything when the couple said their vows as I would always be creepily watching from behind a flower arrangement, weeping quietly as the couple I'd never laid eyes on declared their love for each other. Now, I don't know where this 'crying at vows' thing comes from, or how I started it, but an unhealthy addiction to 'Don't Tell the Bride' has proven that there's almost no wedding that can't weedle a tear out of me. I've since attended several more personal weddings (invite and all!) which have followed their own formulas, from Australian valleys and stately tearooms to Grecian monasteries and Cornish castles!

I suppose it's the fact that the whole place is filled with people who are so happy for this couple, who are there to say 'Yay for love!'. Everyone is supporting their Big Next Step and sharing in their happiness. It's nice to have something so lovely to unite a big bunch of strangers.

It's also the fact that it's one of the rare occasions that it's actively encouraged to be openly in love and nobody mime vomits (well, mostly not), or feels embarrassed being emotional.

I reckon love and this pretty brave commitment should be celebrated even more and remembered for the unique and special day it always ends up being. Take photos, talk to everybody (you all have something in common already), dance, catch up with old mates and TAKE FLIP FLOPS! And here's the plug...: Give that couple something really special and unique! If you know a couple of special people who's wedding you'd like to commemorate, I can create one off artworks based totally on them, their love story and all the little things that make them happy. Think quotes, holidays, pets, songs, nicknames, milestones, whatever!